Propagation of Local Collapse in Double Layer Tensegrity Systems

Karim ABEDI

Professor

Sahand University of Technlogy Tabriz, Iran k_abedi@sut.ac.ir

M. CHENAGHLOU

Associate Professor

Sahand University of Technlogy Tabriz, Iran mrchenaghlou@sut.ac.ir

In tensegrity systems, local collapse may be caused due to buckling of the struts and or rupture of the cables. When a local collapse, e.g. member snap through, occurs in systems, some amount of kinetic energy may be released. This released energy giving an initial velocity to adjacent part of the system, causes the local collapse to have dynamic nature and even may lead to the occurrence of progressive collapse. Stiffness of the adjoining structure (i.e. safe part of structure) is one of the features that may have an important effect on the propagation of local collapse. Therefore, a comparative numerical study into the propagation of local collapse in these systems is performed using nonlinear static and dynamic analysis to determine nodal displacements responses of the systems. Based on the obtained results, some important conclusions have been drawn regarding the progressive collapse of these systems.